and finally...


Rich or powerful? Expect our curiosity


We’ll dig into your backstory – it’s our job, says Chris Proctor. T


here used to be a character called Eddie Yates in Coronation Street. When he was working as a bin man,


he came home every evening to his lodgings at Hilda Ogden’s house bearing gifts: large black plastic bags. They were starting to fill the small house and Hilda complained. Would he stop bringing bags home? Crestfallen, Eddie said: “But if you’re a


bin man, there’s nothing else to pinch.” It’s a fair point made well. I was thinking of petty criminal Eddie as the news broke about former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi’s dealings with the Revenue, Owen Paterson’s insider lobbying, David Cameron’s dealings with Greensill Capital, Boris Johnson’s Mustique holiday and the strange case of an £800,000 loan and the appointment of Richard Sharp as BBC chair. In my class at school, I had a mate


called Bernie whose dad worked at the Crawford’s biscuit factory in Old Swan, Liverpool It was no coincidence that Bernard, myself and our close confederates were flush with broken Penguins. It’s the same with Nadhim and Boris. Except Bernie’s dad had paid for the broken biscuits. I feel sorry for Sir Laurie Magnus,


who has the most challenging of jobs – advising the Conservative Party on ethics. He has nothing to slip into his


briefcase on his way out of the office apart from moral principles, which, as Owen Paterson would tell you, aren’t worth a mouldy carrot, even in these days of salad shortages. Advising any government on ethics is tricky, but dealing with the present


one makes Mission Impossible look pretty routine. I’m sure Rishi Sunak meant it when he said he’d like his premiership to be marked by ‘integrity, professionalism and accountability’. But, freshly appointed, he must have


looked down the cabinet table at his mates in the enterprise and despaired. Which one of them isn’t just a little bit dodgy? Which is where we journalists come


in. We look along that table as well. And ask the same questions. It’s the ethical bit of our job. We help to hold the rich and powerful to account. We don’t just report that someone is


filthy rich. Or hugely talented. Or interestingly hospitalised. Or married at 92. We’re also interested in how they got there: and that is where reporting meets journalism. This is why staff cuts at newspapers are so desperately damaging. They are bad for writers and photographers, because they prevent us from doing our jobs; and desperately bad for our readers, who are given half the information and service they should be able to expect. For a short-term profit, the industry is being jettisoned. Happily, there is no need for undue concern as we are shortly to be saved. Yes, Henry Charles Albert David


Windsor (retired) has announced that reforming the British press is now his life’s work. So we can relax, trusting our prince in the Golden State. (That is where he lives, not his condition.) Or can we? Some of his views and our concerns don’t entirely tally. For example, he thinks the press


(you, me, us) are “a dreadful mob of dweebs and crones and cut-rate


criminals and clinically diagnosable sadists along Fleet Street”. I can see something of myself there, but definitely not (most of) my colleagues. On the other hand, he is right to


point to the folly of a media that swallows, unedited, press releases from Buckingham Palace or any other corporate business. By extension, he would presumably argue that we must be cagey about government pronouncements, such as ‘I’m innocent’ from Nadhim or his mates. It is only right that we probe these statements, poke around a bit and find out the full story. However, in Henry’s world, there is a proviso, which is basically that it doesn’t apply to him. Anything uttered by him or his wife should be printed verbatim. And everyone should look away when he is not engaged in uttering. I have difficulties with this. I mean,


“ ”


We are intrigued by people of no particular talent who can afford a film-star lifestyle: it fascinates us


if he wants to be a private person, he can achieve this easily. He can shut up. If, however, he wants to be a public figure, he should expect media curiosity. We are intrigued by people of no particular talent who can afford a film-star lifestyle: it fascinates us. Besides, Harry needn’t worry. He


won’t be interesting for long. Once he runs out of royal dirt to dish, he’ll be just another bloke with a beard. In the interim, he’s just going to have to accept that his snooping is my research; his prying is my investigation; and his intrusion is my inspection.


I don’t apologise for this.


Investigating the powerful is part of our remit. We’re back-up for Sir Laurie even if we look like Eddie Yates.


theJournalist | 27


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